Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) celebrates another day in the pink jersey.

(Roberto Bettini)

It always pays to have a Plan B, and today in Cava De' Tirreni, Australian sprinter Matt Goss became HTC-Columbia's Plan B in the absence of an in-form André Greipel. The burly German wasn't to be seen in the final kilometres so it was time for Goss to step-up and he did, overhauling Filippo Pozzato (Team Katusha) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) over the last 200 metres to take a convincing victory.

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Pozzato and Farrar finished second and third respectively, although the form book again went out the window at the pointy end of the stage, as has been the case for the sprints so far in this Giro. Milram's Robert Förster and Colnago-CSF Inox rider Federico Canuti made their presence felt with fourth and fifth, but the likes of stage three victor Wouter Weylandt and Team Sky's Greg Henderson narrowly missed out on podium places.

“I’m certainly very happy. This is the best win of my career, I’m delighted," said Goss after the stage. “I was still trying to help André [Greipel] but he wasn’t there when there was a split with 10km-to-go. He came back and I looked after him for most of the last few kilometres. At the 400m mark I thought, 'if he’s on my wheel, he’ll pass me in the sprint', but he wasn’t there, so I took the opportunity to win."

With another split in the peloton as the pace increased during the final 30km, some unusual bedfellows appeared with whom the sprinters had to share the fast finish. These included the likes of maglia rosa Alexandre Vinokourov (who kept his race lead), Cadel Evans, Ivan Basso and his teammate Vincenzo Nibali, who were all amongst the sprinters in the final kilometre as first Rubens Bertogliati hit out before a flurry of ill-fated attacks sent a number of riders up the road.

"[Alexandre] Vinokourov attacked in the last kilometre, so I followed him," Evans said after the finish. "But with the headwind, I think he went a little early so I was left on the front and had to continue on with it."

The final result amidst the chaos and confusion? Another Australian stage victory on Italian soil as Goss capitalised on Greipel's apparent lack of form, further increasing his stocks as the future of road sprinting. The 23-year-old former track rider continues to pick up important wins in his fourth year as a professional and this one is surely the biggest of his career.

“We had a bit of pressure for the Giro and we hadn’t won anything until today," said Goss. "We heard this morning that Cavendish won in California. It’s been a nice couple of days for the team. Our goal here is to pick up more stage wins, whether it’s with me, André, or anybody else.”

Mother always told me...

Most mothers will tell their children to choose their friends carefully and for three members of the quartet that constituted today's long break, mother's lessons were valuable. Giampaolo Cheula (Footon-Servetto), Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank) and Michael Barry (Sky) had Russian breakaway specialist Mikhail Ignatiev for company, Katusha's strong man the kind of guy you want to drive a four-man escape vehicle.

While the rain continued, the storm that was the first week of the 2010 Giro d'Italia had clearly passed in today's 187km journey from Frosinone to Cava De' Tirreni. A sodden romp along Italy's west coast below Napoli, it signalled another transition in this year's race. There was even a flooded road just after the peloton passed through Maddaloni, which made for a sweet snippet on tomorrow's highlight's reel.

The overall contenders seemed content to continue recovering from their efforts during the first eight days, although that seemed to change near the end of the stage - but more of that later.

After nine kilometres of racing the fearless four riders clipped away, establishing a lead nudging three minutes; the advantage was constantly controlled by HTC-Columbia however, which was desperate to get its man Greipel a win after a week of crashes, tough stages and near misses.

"There was a four-rider breakaway but we made very sure that we kept them at a manageable distance," said HTC-Columbia directeur Tristan Hoffman. "The weather was really bad at times, sometimes the streets were like rivers and that made it a lot harder. However, our goal was always to get a bunch sprint, and even though we had no support from other teams and had to work like crazy, the team did a brilliant job today."

With Valerio Piva's men and those from Garmin-Transitions doing the hard work on the front of a soggy peloton, the break's advantage was further pinned back - with 70km remaining it stood at 1:20 - although it wasn't until the final 30km that the chase was on in earnest and another set of machinations began to take place.

As the speedos within the bunch hit 60km/h the catch seemed imminent - Ignatiev thrives on this type of challenge but for much of the peloton the pace inflicted by HTC-Columbia as it once again tried to set up Greipel for victory proved too high and there was another split at the front of the field.

Consequently, we witnessed a familiar sight in this year's Giro: a splintered peloton as Astana tried its keep its captain, overall leader Vinkourov, amongst the fast stuff. Not to be outdone, Liquigas had one of its general classification charges, Vincenzo Nibali, at the head of proceedings. Meanwhile Evans was almost caught out again, a la stage three last week, when he'd suffered a puncture with 30km remaining.

"The photography motorbikes were blocking the roads and that opened up some splits in the crosswinds," explained Evans afterwards. The Australian made it across to the front group to save the day, although the same couldn't be said for Carlos Sastre, the Spaniard unfortunately finished 1:49 behind the front group and fell further behind on the overall standings.

Ahead, the break continued to do its thing up front, albeit with a change in pace from Ignatiev that only Barry could handle. Fans of the Russian hoped against hope that he could succeed in his endeavours, but with 4.7km remaining the game was up; even a hardened breakaway exponent like Ignatiev has to concede defeat in the face of a black-and-yellow train led by the likes of Marcel Sieburg, Adam Hansen and Matt Goss.

With its tail high and stage two winner Tyler Farrar hurting after a big effort to bridge the gap, HTC-Columbia smelt blood, although it had to contend with the high number of general classification riders in its midst, which had obviously disrupted the American squad's lead-out train.

Despite these riders trying their luck in the final kilometre, Goss was able to power up the barriers on the left and steal the win, his team's first at this year's Giro, an incredible fact given the squad's strength and dominance of the final kilometres during sprint stages.

For his part, Vinokourov explained why he was amongst the sprinters today: "I took advantage of the work done by Team HTC Columbia," he said. "It was a relatively quiet stage disturbed only by abundant rain. My only concern was to not lose seconds from Evans, which is why I was in the first positions in the finale.

"Everything's fine as it is, the maglia rosa is firmly on my shoulders and my legs are really in good condition," he added.